Emerging Media

Facebook’s Chief Security Officer, Alex Stamos, has officially resigned from his position this week, a move that was expected by many after it was revealed in March that the social network will be reorganizing its security division. Stamos has been with Facebook since 2015, but will be leaving later this month to become a fellow at Stanford University where he will be part of a new working group that will focus on information warfare, designed to inform politicians and the media about new threats. Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said Stamos played a critical role at the company. However, […]

According to documents leaked this week, Google is likely to launch a censored version of its search service in China. The Intercept says that the project, codenamed Dragonfly, may blacklist websites and search terms including human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest. It was revealed that Google programmers and engineers have already developed a custom Android app called “Maotai” and “Longfei” which has already been demoed to the Chinese government. The app, which will adhere to the country’s strict censorship laws, is just waiting for the approval of government officials and may be launched within six to nine months. Source: […]

Facebook said this week that it had taken down 362 offensive posts after Germany’s NetzDG came into effect at the beginning of the year. The company added that non-compliance with the online hate speech law could result to fines up to 50 million euros. Vice president for global policy solutions Richard Allan also emphasized that hate speech is against the platform’s policy and they have removed posts that attacked people who were vulnerable for reasons including ethnicity, nationality, religion or sexual orientation. Germany’s criminal code considers insult, defamation, incitement to hatred and incitement to crime as offences. It was noted […]

Facebook revealed this week that is has identified and shut down accounts which may be used in a campaign that seeks to disrupt the mid-term US elections which will be held this November. Facebook said that they found 17 suspicious Facebook profiles which had published around 9500 posts, and 7 Instagram accounts, one of which posted only only a single piece of content. Some of the popular ones that got banned were Aztlan Warriors, Black Elevation, Mindful Being, and Resisters. The social network, however, said that they could not ascertain who was responsible for the pages as the bad actors […]

The Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairman said this week that the volume of fake news is increasingly crowding out real news at a time when viewers are still struggling to discern between the two. Tory MP Damian Collins revealed that they are calling for tougher regulation for social networks as the issue has already become a threat to democracy. The UK government is also said to be considering a requirement for election ads to have a digital imprint which will clearly identify the publisher. Source: BBC

In a policy paper revealed this week, US Senator Mark Warner suggested that in order to improve transparency, tech giants may want to disclose to their customers how much their information is worth to the platform. The white paper, which focused on data privacy and regulation, also included typical issues such as disinformation, data transparency and adopting a framework similar to Europe’s GDPR regulation. Warner’s paper is expected to put additional pressure on tech giants and massive data collectors like Google and Facebook who are already burdened by the GDPR. Source: ZDNet

Facebook is reportedly being sued by a shareholder who says that the company and its Chief Financial Officer David Wehner made inaccurate and incomplete statements about slowing revenue growth, falling operating margins, and declines in active users. Shareholder James Kacouris, who says that said the 19% plunge in Facebook’s shares was caused by federal securities law violations by the defendants. It is said that Kacouris’ lawsuit, which was filed in a Manhattan federal court, could just be one of many after the social media company had $120 billion of shareholder wealth wiped last week. Source: Reuters

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee in the UK recently warned that a democratic crisis could be triggered by “pernicious views” and data manipulation, with MPs further suggesting that social media companies be subjected to tougher regulation or a new tax. The report comes after months of investigation into the impact of tech giants and how the rise of fake news on social media affects users. The committee further suggested that a “new category of tech company”, which are those that act both as a platform or publisher, should be created to establish “clear legal liability for the […]

Commerce Department’s David Redl, who oversees the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, revealed last week that it will be meeting with tech giants and other stakeholders including Facebook, Comcast, and Alphabet to identify common ground and formulate core, high-level principles on data privacy. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters added that the Trump administration, through the White House National Economic Council is looking to craft a consumer privacy protection policy that achieves the appropriate balance between privacy and prosperity. Source: JPost

Facebook last Thursday was seen to had posted what is considered to be biggest one-day loss in market value by any company in the history of the US stock market after releasing its quarterly report which was described as “disastrous”. The social network’s market capitalization plunged from $630 down to $510 billion, with stock prices falling down 19%. Records show that Facebook is the only company in US stock market history to lose more than $100 billion in a day. Prior to this, the biggest single-day loss was posted by Intel in September of 2000, which amounted to around $90 […]

Subscribe to Elegal

*Your email address will not be passed onto third parties, kept private and will only use your shared data to send the information you requested.
By subscribing, you agree to this website's
Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
You may unsubscribe anytime.

Name

Email

Position

Organization

Contact Us

Need more information on Philippine laws and legal updates? Contact us at elegal@disini.ph

About Us

This blog is the embodiment of a vision we have at Disini & Disini (D&D) of an IT empowered citizenry where we, as a people, harness information available through the internet to bridge the gaps where there may be lapses. As part of our advocacy, we take full advantage of the accessibility of cyberspace by developing this blog.